Broken Hearts, Again
by veredgf
Summary: Alex is kicked by a patient and refuses treatment…
1. Chapter 1

**BROKEN HEARTS, AGAIN**

 **By: Vered Gilad Friedman**

 **Summary: Alex is kicked by a patient and refuses treatment…**

 **Author's note: I'm totally in love with this series. I only discovered it recently and had to watch everything. Now I can't get it out of my head. Especially can't get Michael Shanks out of my head *gulp*.**

 **It's been five years since my last fanfic. I'm rusty, so please forgive me. Also, am not from an English speaking country.**

 **I'm a sucker for suffering characters and this story is no exception. It was inspired by season two's finale' "Broken Hearts" but takes place at early season four.**

 **All medical stuff is based on some googling and my basic understanding - my apologies for any inaccuracies, and possible impossible medicine that I may have invented.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own "Saving Hope" or its characters, but I do enjoy them so much, that had to give them some additional plot.**

 **Thank you for reading and all reviews are welcome.**

 **PART 1**

The fourteen year old was thrashing uncontrollably. Legs kicking in the air, arms flailing, foam frothing from his mouth, his neck distended backwards; his entire body contorting as the seizure took over.

"C'mon!" Alex Reid yelled. "Where's the Lorazepam?!" She was trying to grab the boy's legs. It was turning out to be an impossible task. "Jackson!" she shouted at the top of her voice. "Why the hell isn't he back with the medication?!" she blurted under her breath, barely catching it.

She had sent the nurse over a minute ago to get the anti-seizure drug. It was taking him forever. Usually they had it stocked in the trauma cart, but it had been a crazy day. A bunch of kids came in with a bad reaction to a chemical spill at a building site by their school. Most of them ended up with severe seizures. The place was a mess. There were social workers and psychologists trying to help the families, while various chemical experts were working on identifying the element that was affecting the children. They had to work fast and get their condition under control and the carts were half empty.

It was definitely an irregular situation. Nurse Jackson left her on her own with the patient and went to get the seizure drug and hopefully some help. Alex felt drained and the only thing that somehow kept her going was the fact that in two hours her shift would be over and she would be back home with her kiddo and her man.

She took a deep breath and leaped on top the boy's legs, pinning them to the gurney. She heard Jackson's voice. He was approaching the trauma room she was in. She sighed inwardly _'finally'_.

The Trauma doors burst open and she peeped behind her— WHACK! She felt a hard kick against her chest and the air was sucked out of her lungs. She gulped and felt herself losing her grip as she came down hard, her chest crashed against the gurney and then she just rolled to the floor.

She felt disoriented and breathless.

"Alex!" she heard Charlie's agitated voice.

"I—I'm—f—fine." She managed to say through gasps and pants. "Take c—care o—of the b—boy…" She trailed off, gasping for air. She was never punched or kicked in her life, Alex realized. This is what it meant getting the wind blown out of you.

She could hear Charlie taking over her trauma; administering the medication, shouting out a bunch of orders for Jackson, trying to get the agitated boy to calm down.

All the while she was slowly getting her breathing to calm down. Eventually she felt she was able to get up from the floor.

Charlie was right by her side, lending a helping hand, and directing her to the nearby bed.

"Charlie, what are you doing?"

"Lie down. I want Dawn to give you a quick checkup."

She was annoyed. "I fell, Charlie. It's nothing, really."

"C'mon, Alex, I saw your fall. He kicked you right in the chest and it took you too long to recover. You had heart surgery for God sake!"

As he said this he grabbed her arm and was feeling for her pulse, but she pulled it away and got up. Her movement was too abrupt, though, and she swayed and grabbed the bed for support.

"See?!" Charlie admonished her. "I'm paging Dawn."

Alex let out a defeated sigh and sat back on the bed. She hated being hovered upon. Charlie was so protective and although she loved him for it, she also felt that feminist tendency and she hated all that chivalry and damsel in distress thingy. Why won't he let her be?

"Charlie?" She gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile. "If I'll be a good girl and just rest on this bed for now, will you spare me the checkup?"

He gave her a worried look. "Alex…"

"C'mon, Charlie," She pleaded. "It's almost the end of the shift. I'll just lie down here and you can take me home when your shift is over, deal?"

"First let me take your pulse and then, if I'm satisfied with my findings, we might have a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain, Charlie Harris." Alex smiled and offered her wrist to her man.

He grabbed her hand almost a little too eagerly, then felt her pulse. It seemed to take him forever. He then put his stethoscope on and proceeded to listen to her chest but Alex pushed him away.

"You said you will tell me after my pulse check." She retorted.

"Alex!"

"Don't Alex me, Charlie Harris. You made a promise!"

"I'm not happy with just a pulse reading. Alex, I'm just being thorough 'cause I care about you. Why don't you indulge me, just this once?" He was on the verge of begging.

Reid was just about to give in. He gave her the puppy dog stare and she was a sucker for his big blues, but then hell blew over.

She could hear the sirens piling up as they approached the ER entrance. This was going to be a major event, an 'all hands on deck' kind. She knew Charlie realized this as well as he got up to face the ER doors.

With a loud bang the doors burst open and in came the first gurney, a medic was sitting on top of it, doing CPR on whomever was lying down and being rolled in. Reid got up as Charlie began moving, but he caught her movement and turned around.

"You're sitting this one out, Reid!" He shouted as he rushed to help the injured party.

She lay back with an angry huff.


	2. Chapter 2

**PART 2**

Maggie Lin rushed through the hallways and reached the emergency room. She had just left thirty minutes before after things had calmed down and she was trying to settle down for a quick nap at the on-call room but of course it was just too much to ask for. She really needed a couple of hours sleep but it was not to be.

With a sigh she pushed the ER doors open and trudged in to join her pals at the trenches.

As she walked past the beds, she did a double take. "Alex?"

Her friend wore a disgruntled expression on her face and was resting on one of the ER beds. Highly irregular. Alex Reid would never miss a good trauma, especially when things were as bad as today.

"You OK?" Lin asked as she rushed by, but she had no time to hear Alex's answer as Dawn was yelling for her to move it or else.

Four men were brought in with crush injuries after a pylon fell on them at a construction site. All had life threatening injuries, ranging from broken limbs, crushed ribs, various cardio issues, a head injury and possible internal injuries. It was bedlam. Seconds counted and everybody had to be at their peak performance. Charlie was manning one bed, Dr. Hamza was attending to the head injury, Dawn was fussing over the suspected cardio issues and Maggie and Dr. Curtis was rushing in between all of them, giving as all had some form of internal injury.

"Where's Dr. Reid?!" Dawn Bell yelled at the top of her voice.

"Here!" Alex Reid replied from behind.

"Alex," Dr. Bell grunted, "We need you. This isn't the time to be shy."

Alex Reid gulped "No. Of course not. Where do you need me?"

At that Charlie Harris intervened "No! Alex! Seriously! You promised you'll rest."

Dawn Bell made a double take and stared at Alex "What's wrong?" she quickly resumed her work on the patient on the gurney.

"It's nothing, really." Alex protested.

"She was knocked down by a patient just before all hell broke loose" Charlie explained. "Got extremely winded and **refused** to let me examine her." He looked at her with reproach.

At that the monitors began beeping hysterically. There was no time to continue the discussion and Alex just dove right in and began to take care of things.

It was after all 'all hands on deck' and Alex had some of the more steady hands amongst them and they all knew it.

* * *

At some point Maggie Lin looked up from the bloody mangled body she was treating. Charlie Harris was working on the body with her. What caused her to look up was Charlie, staring further behind her, straight at Dr. Reid with disapproving, yet concerned, eyes.

Lin followed his gaze. Alex Reid was right in her element, working hard to save the patient lying on the gurney. She didn't seem tired, or winded, but Maggie knew how Adrenaline could mask an injury.

When Charlie was injured at the car crash that caused his coma, he seemed fine at first. He actually got out of the cab and saved the other driver's life by deflating a tension pneumo. Only after he had done that, did he collapse.

She could understand his concern, but for now Alex seemed fine.

Dawn had also caught Charlie staring at Alex. She gave her patient a quick glance, and Maggie noted she seemed content with her handiwork. Bell approached Harris and spoke to him in a low voice.

"She seems fine, Charlie."

He opened his mouth to disagree, but Dawn cut his retort short. "Once things are a little calmer, I will examine her, OK?"

Ho nodded with a sigh.

Dawn patted him on the back and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Charlie sighed again and got back to the patient he was treating.

* * *

Dawn's gaze remained on Charlie as the blond doctor returned his own gaze back to his patient. She sighed. She wished Charlie would care for her as much as he cared for Alex Reid. Alas, those days had long gone.

Reid was a good person, she admitted to herself. She was good for Charlie and if she cared for him, she should care for her, too, since she mattered so much to him and her well-being affected Charlie so much.

She sighed again and went over to Reid. The younger doctor was busy with her patient and things were not looking too good. The machines were beeping like crazy, blood pressure was falling. The patient was bleeding internally. All three gen. surgeons were yelling orders like crazy. The nurses were rushing back and forth, hanging plasma and platelets and rushing to get cross-matched blood from the blood bank.

She knew she had to check Reid. Charlie had a good point, but it was impossible right now. It would have to wait.

She looked up and caught Charlie's gaze. She gave him a shrug, and his face contorted with disapproval. She mouthed _'I know'_. He mouthed back an _'I told you so'_. Dawn sighed once more.

* * *

"We'gotta'get'im to the OR stat!" Alex Reid shouted.

The entire party of doctors and nurses disconnected the patient from the trauma systems and connected him to portable life support. Jackson was bagging him and Lin was closely monitoring for any sudden deterioration. They had to work quickly. He was barely stabilized.

"Seriously?!" Charlie Harris' cross voice echoed behind her.

"Charlie, I'm sorry. This man can't wait. _**I**_ can." Reid responded to her angry ex-fiancé's admonition.

"Alex—" He was cut short as his cell began ringing. It was the babysitter's ringtone. He couldn't ignore it. "Dammit!" he spat out and took the call.

As Charlie answered the call, Alex and the entire medical party got into the elevator and headed to the OR.

* * *

Alex was busy scrubbing in when Charlie entered the scrub room with a huff.

"'sitter's gotta' go. Some personal emergency." Charlie was annoyed. "I'm gonna' grab Luke and bring him over here. One of the nurses said she'd take care of him."

Alex nodded agreement. She was feeling a bit off, but she didn't want to let Charlie in on it. She knew he'd catch on to it if she spoke. She felt somewhat breathless.

"I need to get back. My patient is stable for now, but he needs his hip re-aligned."

She nodded again. She wished he would go so she wouldn't need to pretend. She wasn't sure she could pretend that much longer. In her mind she was telling herself she was just gonna' patch things up so that the junior doctors could take over and then she was going straight to Dawn.

He gave her an odd look. "You OK?"

"Sure!" she managed.

He stared deep into her eyes.

"Go! Get Luke. I'll be out of here in no time. I just need to do a splenectomy before this guy bleeds to death. Hopefully the rest will be smooth sailing and the kiddies can handle it."

His stare was almost drilling into her. She knew he figured out she was not OK.

"I'll be right back. Alex, you get out of there as soon as you can. Don't think I haven't noticed you're having a hard time catching your breath. I'm gonna' go by Dawn. Maybe she can at least monitor you while you operate."

Once again she nodded.

Charlie turned around and left, striding with a quick steady pace out of the scrub room, probably off to Dawn's office.

Alex heaved a deep breath and trudged into the OR.

 _'Please make it be an easy one'_ she prayed in her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**PART 3**

Charlie Harris was dashing through the corridors, past the ER, through the department heads' offices, peeping into on-call rooms, supply closets, patient rooms. He had to find Dawn before he left. Something wasn't right with Alex. He had good hunches and if his wife wasn't such an amazing person, he would have clobbered her on her head and had her dragged like a sack of potatoes to an examination room by now. The only thing preventing him from doing this was the sight of the ghost of the man Alex was about to operate on. He knew that guy was a goner if Alex didn't take care of his spleen any time soon.

He spoke to the ghost man "You owe me big time, buddy."

The man looked back at him and said nothing. Some ghosts were just like that.

Loud beeping sounds and a strong vibration shook him out of his ghost reverie. He grabbed his cell from his pocket and cursed. It was the babysitter. He had to go get Luke now or else. He'll call Dawn on the way and get her to watch over his beautiful ex-fiancé.

He rushed along the hallways, down the stairs and through the parking lot. It was rush hour, typical of end of shift and it was taking him forever to get out of the parking area.

"C'mon!" He yelled at the other cars who were slowly trailing through the lot. Of course this was completely futile. He slammed his palms on the steering wheel. "DAMN!" he cried out.

To makes things worse, there was no signal in the parking lot and he couldn't call Dawn. "Damn you, Alex!" he was furious. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

He was pissed at himself. He knew her. He should have been more insistent. This was a woman who took her boards while in full labor for crying out loud! She refused to have her arrhythmia monitored and she never accepted that he would die when he was stuck in his coma. She would never take good care of herself. She always put everybody's needs before her own, just like she was doing now.

"Damn you, Alex!" He loved her so much. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. Tears were streaming along his cheeks.

Finally he had cleared the parking lot but things were no better out on the road. Still, now he could at least get Dawn on Alex's case.

He hit the call button and said Dawn's name out loud. The car phone responded and he heard Dawn's phone ringing. It took forever, but finally there was an answer, but to his extreme disappointment it wasn't Dawn on the line, but Allison, the OR nurse.

Charlie was dismayed. If Allison was answering, this meant only one thing; that Dawn was operating right now. _'Damn!'_ was all that went through his mind.

"Yes?" Allison's expectant voice answered on the other side of the line.

"Allison, can you let me speak with Dawn?"

"I'm putting you on speaker." Allison replied calmly, in complete contrast to Charlie's inner turmoil.

He waited, and then he could hear the sounds of the OR; beeps, the muffled clicking sounds of the bypass machine and the clinking sounds of operating utensils.

Charlie knew that if bypass was running, that this was going to be a long operation. Just what he didn't need right now.

"Charlie? What's wrong?" Dawn was all business, diving right to the point.

"I'm sorry, Dawn. It's just that I had to go home to get Luke. Our sitter bailed out on us. Alex is doing a splenectomy but I think she's not OK."

There was a pause.

That was definitely not a good sign, Charlie noted to himself.

"Dawn?"

"Yes. Listen, I can't leave the OR right now. I promise to go find her the first moment I can, and I'll drag her to a heart monitor and strap her down once I do."

Charlie was amazed that she didn't even ask him what her symptoms were. She didn't doubt his instincts. It didn't help the current situation but this Dawn was a far cry from the woman he had married back then.

He inhaled deeply and felt deflated as he exhaled. He thanked Dawn and ended the call.

"FUCK!" was all he said.

Traffic was starting to dwindle as he gradually approached the suburbs. He would get his kid and make a dash for it. He had to be with her. He had an ominous feeling and he knew all too well not to ignore it.


	4. Chapter 4

**PART 4**

Alex Reid was having a hard time catching her breath. _'You idiot!'_ she reprimanded herself. Of course, those were just her thoughts. She was feeling like crap but was still at the top of her game.

The splenectomy was going as planned. _'Thank The Powers That Be for some small miracles'_.

Just as the last thought left her mind, it all began spiraling downwards. _'Scratch that!'_ her mind told her. Stupid, silly thoughts. Of course it had to go wrong somewhere along the line.

"Dammit!" she spat out. Blood pressure was plummeting. The patient was crashing. It was either a pre-existing nicked artery from the crushing accident or a new one, caused by her attempt to remove the spleen. Either way, the end result was the same.

Despite her breathlessness, Alex reacted with intense precision and speed, spitting out orders, describing her actions as she performed them; Maggie Lin and Patrick Curtis assisting her as she proceeded.

It was over within a minute, although it had felt like an eternity while she was trying to get the bleed under control.

Now she was standing still, trying once again to catch her breath. It felt like being in a marathon. _'It's just the adrenaline'_ she told herself and tried desperately to slow her breathing.

It wasn't working.

 _God!_ She was going to faint in the OR. _Oh GOD!_

She swayed, and reflex took over and she grabbed the first thing she could steady herself with and it was Dr. Curtis.

The stuffy English surgeon almost recoiled at her touch, but quickly regained his composure. "Dr. Reid?"

Simultaneously, Maggie Lin cried out "Alex?! You OK?"

She wasn't OK. God she was anything **_but_** OK.

"I—I just n—need a—a mo—ment… to s—sit d—down…" she managed through gasps and pants. This was really bad.

Maggie was the first to take action. "Get Dr. Reid a chair!" she yelled at a nurse "NOW!" she added for emphasis. "You!" she said to a second nurse, "Page Dr. Raycraft and see if he can step in for me."

As she was giving orders, Maggie tore her gloves off and moved towards Alex who was slumped on the chair. Alex felt Maggie's finger gently prod her neck as she searched for her carotid artery. She had no strength left to resist, nor did she want to. She had reached that point where she knew it would be foolish. Actually, she thought to herself, she had reached that point earlier. She knew that one day her stubbornness would kill her.

"What's going on with her?" Patrick Curtis called out to Maggie from his position at the operating table.

"She's in A-Fib. It's looking like a coronary event."

Curtis was surprised. "She got cardio issues?" He had no clue.

"Maggie…" Alex rasped.

"Shshsh… You're going to be alright. Don't talk." Maggie tried to calm her friend down.

"Charlie…" Alex said.

"Don't worry about him right now. I'll call him when we'll get you stabilized." Maggie told her.

Patrick Curtis sounded pissed. "What the hell's goin' on there?!"

"She was stabbed in the heart by a patient two years ago, Patrick. Yes, she has a history, **_OK_**?" Maggie retorted angrily.

Just then the OR doors opened and Dr. Raycraft backed in. He took one look at the scene and blurted "What the hell?!"

Lin was quick to respond. "I think she's having a coronary. I need Dawn."

"She's operating on one of the pylon crush injuries. I don't think she'll be out any time soon." Raycraft told her.

"Crap!" Maggie exploded.

She flew out of the OR doors yelling to an orderly "I need a gurney!"

Alex felt worse and she couldn't believe it could feel any worse than it had already been, but here she was barely clinging to a semi sitting position, unable to lift her head, her limbs felt heavy and her breathing was becoming more labored by the micro second. She felt like she was going to die. God! That was so unfair!

She heard a major commotion and Maggie Lin hustling about her.

"OK, on my count, we will lift her to the gurney. One- Two- Three-!"

Alex felt strong hands moving her as she was hefted onto the gurney.

Lying down was making things worse. She felt a strong pain in her chest, and all of the air was sucked right out of her. She fought to get up.

"Alex! ALEX!" Maggie was commanding her "It's OK. We've got you. Lie down. ALEX!"

 _'Help me!'_ her brain screamed in panic. "Help…" This time she heard her voice, although it was barely a whisper now.

"We're going to help you, Alex." Maggie was telling her, but her tone was worried, and Alex could hear this in her voice, even in her current condition.

She couldn't fight any longer. She felt she was losing the battle. _'Charlie…'_ her mind called out. _'Charlie, help me…'_

"We need to intubate!" Maggie Lin was screaming.

The room was fading out. She was just too tired to hold on any further.

And then she was back in the room, staring at her pale body sprawled on a gurney in the scrub room.

"Oh no…" her voice trailed, but nobody seemed to notice her.


	5. Chapter 5

**PART 5**

Charlie was en route to the hospital. The traffic had improved, but now he had to deal with baby Luke who wasn't a happy camper. Messing with a baby's schedule was a crappy deal, and Luke was no exception. The child was cranky, and there was nothing Charlie could do to calm him down.

"Hey Luky, hey baby…" Charlie tried to sooth him by talking and cooing to no avail. The kid was miserable and so was Charlie.

"It's your foul mood, Charlie Harris."

"Hah?!" _What the hell?_! "Alex!" Charlie did a double take and almost forgot he was driving. It was only the blow of a semitrailer horn that got him back on track. He swerved wildly and managed to somehow stop on the road shoulder.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Charlie rambled on as the car went into a complete halt.

Baby Luke seemed surprised at the sudden turn of things and stopped his whimpering.

"I knew it!" He was furious. He looked back and sure enough, Alex's ghost was sitting behind him, almost kissing Luke.

He spun around and pressed the phone button "Dawn Bell" he said out loud and the car phone proceeded to make the call.

This time it was Dawn who answered. "Charlie?"

"Dawn, it's Alex. I think… something's wrong." He blurted. He knew he sounded like a raving lunatic but he didn't care.

"Charlie? What the hell? Where are you? Is Alex with you?" Dawn shot out.

"No!" he yelled. "Just go find her, please!" he pleaded with her.

"Charlie, what do you mean? How do you know she's not OK? Is this a 'Charlie Harris' thing?"

"Yeah! Dawn, please, I hope it's not too late." He felt defeated. Dawn wasn't picking up on his desperation and he knew he would have reacted the same if somebody made such a call to him a few years back.

He drew a deep breath and was about to fight for his case, when he heard a commotion on the other side of the line.

Dawn was on speaker and he could hear just about everything.

"Maggie?!" It was Dawn and she sounded surprised.

"It's Alex!" Maggie was telling her. "I think she threw a major coronary. She collapsed during the splenectomy. I intubated her and filled her up with thrombolytics, but I think she needs surgery."

 _Oh my God!_ Charlie thought.

"Oh my God!" Dawn echoed his thoughts out loud.

"Dawn?" Charlie called out. "Dawn, can you help her?"

"I'm still in surgery. Dammit! I'm so sorry. I hope I can get out on time." Dawn sounded genuinely upset.

"Are you talking with Charlie?" Maggie asked.

"Yes. He just called me and- he wanted me to check on her- Dammit! I should have checked on her sooner." Dawn sounded frustrated.

"Yes, you should have." Charlie sighed.

"Is there anything I can do?" Maggie asked.

There was a pause. Charlie could imagine Dawn trying to work out a solution.

"I still have at least another thirty minutes in here." Dawn was saying. "I just need to finish sewing up this tear and hopefully he will be stable enough for somebody else to close him."

"Maggie, get me her blood work, her FAST scan results and her ECG. I want to see what needs to be done and maybe we can get a head start."

"Good. Good. I'm on my way." Charlie answered to that.

"Charlie," Dawn spoke. "She will be alright. Alex Reid is a fighter. You know that, don't you?"

He felt a lump moving up his throat. He swallowed hard and tried to get a grip on his feelings.

"Charlie?" Dawn sounded concerned.

"Yes," he managed.

"She will be alright, you hear me?"

"Sure…" he responded, but he was anything but.

Dawn disconnected. The car was quiet. Charlie turned around. Luke had fallen asleep and Alex's ghost was now looking at him with her big blue eyes.

"You heard her," Charlie said to her ghost. "You will be alright."

Alex smiled.

Charlie finally broke down and sobbed like a baby.


	6. Chapter 6

**(Hardest part to write... trying to make sense of the medical lingo... )**

 **PART 6**

Dawn Bell was flabbergasted by Charlie's phone call. It wasn't the first time that Charlie's, what she could only think of as a sixth sense, was right on the money. How on earth could he have known Alex was in a bad shape?

She was fighting to get a tear in the left carotid artery stitched. There weren't enough margins. She was hoping for a quick fix so that she could move over to the adjacent OR where Alex was being prepped.

"Dammit!" she cursed as the evasive artery refused to be stitched. She tried again. "Got it!" This time the stitch caught. She just needed to check perfusion.

"OK people, let's get him off bypass, on my mark- go!"

"Taking him off bypass." The technician responded.

"Standing by with peddles," Dawn replied as the charged internal peddles were handed over to her.

"OK. Moment of truth. Everybody clear!" Dawn warned. "Charging!"

She gave the heart a jolt and to her immediate relief it responded appropriately.

"Sinus rhythm." Allison reported with a smile. "Good work."

Dawn exhaled. She wasn't even aware she was holding her breath.

"Checking perfusion." She stared down the artery as if willing it to pink up. "C'mon, c'mon," she prodded. The heart rhythm was slowly improving and sure enough, blood began to flow through the sewn blood vessel. Now all she needed was for her stitches to hold. She gently probed around the vessel, making sure there weren't any additional bleeds.

She was satisfied. The patient had a steady heartbeat, he was stable. She looked up at the junior surgeon. "Can you close him up?"

He nodded consent.

No sooner did she finish her sentence and a nurse came rushing in.

"Dr. Reid is crashing!"

"Oh Shit!" Dawn scrambled to remove her surgical gloves as she dashed to the next operating room. From the sound of the commotion and the beeping of the heart monitor, Dawn knew there was no time for her to scrub in. She just grabbed a fresh pair of gloves and snapped them on in the scrub room. Just then Charlie Harris burst into the room holding baby Luke in his hands.

"Alex!" Charlie cried out.

"Give me the baby." Shahir Hamza approached Charlie and grabbed Luke.

Charlie snatched a surgical mask and dashed into the OR and Dawn followed suit.

She took in the situation.

Alex was in v-fib. She had to be stabilized before she could open her up. She just hoped she wasn't too late.

Maggie was already on top of it, holding the defibrillator Peddles ready. She yelled for everybody to clear and slammed the peddles to Alex's chest. The young woman's body jolted from the shock.

Her heart rhythm was still erratic and Maggie administered a second shock.

The second attempt got her back into sinus rhythm, but her oxygenation was still poor and her blood pressure was tanking.

Dawn knew she had to cut her open in seconds. There was a major vessel bleeding and no time to spare.

She strode quickly by Alex's side and was handed a scalpel. Iodine was already covering her colleague's chest. Dawn could clearly see heavy bruising spreading all over the chest area. There was no more time to dwell on this. They had missed her injuries and they let her go because she was their friend. Dawn made a mental note to herself to never let this sort of thing happen again. She just hoped that Alex didn't have to pay the price of this lesson.

"Bypass is standing by." The technician informed her.

She nodded. "OK," she said and took a deep breath as she once again sliced Alex's chest, reopening her old incisions. Her mind registered how unbelievable this all was.

In seconds Dawn had cut Alex's chest open, and ran the saw through her rib cage. She was then quickly hooked to bypass. It was the only thing keeping her alive.

Dawn found the source of the bleeding, a tiny minuscule tear in the bypass vein caused by a broken rib. It was a miracle Alex had managed to function. Her lungs were contused, and fluid was beginning to build around the heart as the tear was slowly widening.

"Jeez Alex!" Charlie let out.

"Charlie Shut **_the hell_** up!" he was getting on her nerves and they were frayed enough as it was. She didn't need his blabbering right now.

* * *

"Oh my God…" Alex's ghost said as Dawn located the source of her problems.

Charlie was still coming to terms with what he saw. He just hoped Dawn could patch her up again. Alex's heart had taken a severe blow already. She was young but she wasn't the same healthy woman she was before the stabbing.

"You're going to be alright," he told Alex. "Dawn's good. You know that, right?"

"I know she's good but I think I really messed things this time. I should have listened to you. I'm a mother now. It's not just about me anymore." Ghost Alex said miserably.

"What do you mean? If you didn't have a baby, this means your life has less of a meaning? C'mon, Alex!"

"Charlie!" Dawn yelled. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but I _**am**_ trying to save the love of your life, you'd think you could at least respect that and let me concentrate here?!"

Talk about a bloody (snort) déjà vu, Charlie realized.

He was just hoping that Dawn won't repeat last time's mistake.

He sighed.

* * *

Dawn got the torn vein all stitched up. They now had to make sure her ribs wouldn't nick it again. Usually ribs were left to heal on their own, but this time she placed a small screw and aligned the bone so that it wouldn't cause any more damage once Alex was up and moving.

Lin had placed a chest drain as they also noticed her lung had collapsed. Alex was a mess but she was almost out of the woods.

Now came the scary part.

"Of course she can do it, Alex." Dawn heard Charlie mumbling under his breath. If he wasn't such a good doctor, she would have sectioned him by now. He has been so weird ever since his coma. Definitely some brain damage there, Dawn thought.

She heaved a deep breath and got into action.

"I need an amp of epi and stand by with internal peddles!" Bell ordered.

"Take her off bypass."

"Taking her off bypass," the perfusionist reported, and then "She is off bypass."

Dawn jabbed the heart with the epi syringe and then grabbed the internal peddles and gave Alex's heart a jolt.

"C'mon Alex," Dawn prodded.

"You can do it," Maggie Lin added.

"I don't know." Charlie was saying in the background to God only knew who.

"Charging peddles again!" Dawn announced. "Everybody clear!"

"Discharge!"

The heart wasn't responding. Maggie began internal compressions.

"Don't you want to get better Alex?" Charlie was asking under his breath.

"Of course she wants it!" Dawn replied but once again felt Charlie was talking to invisible people and not to the woman lying on the operating table. It was just something about the way he said it.

"So why isn't it working?" Charlie asked with frustration.

"I don't know," Dawn responded candidly. "She's been through a lot, Charlie. Her heart has taken a serious blow twice in two years. I can't promise you-"

"NO! " Charlie yelled at her. "No."

Dawn stared at the blond man's desperate expression. "OK," she let out a sigh, "Let's continue trying."

She took another deep breath _'Alex, you've got to come back to him,'_ she told the young woman in her mind.

"Give me another amp of epi."

She stuck a second syringe in Alex's heart.

"Stop compressions."

"Everybody clear."

"Charging!"

She shocked the heart again. And then again. And then…

A steady heart rhythm sounded from the monitor and Dawn could see the heart beginning to beat on its own.

"Sinus rhythm." Allison announced.

"Oh my GOD!" Charlie let out. He looked at Dawn and she could see moist clinging to the corner of his eyes. "I'd hug you right now if you weren't scrubbed in."

Dawn felt a huge weight lifting off of her shoulders. All she wanted right now was to go curl up at some quiet place but she had to finish Alex's surgery. She gave Charlie a smile. He just gave her a look that said _'Thank You'_ all over. Then he looked to his side and said "You are going to be OK, Alex."

Dawn knew it was weird he was saying it to nobody instead of to the woman on the table but she decided not to pursue it.

"OK everybody! Let's get her closed and out of this operating room. I think she's had enough for one day, don't you?"


	7. Finale

**PART 7**

Charlie was following Alex's gurney together with ghost Alex as she was wheeled into the ICU.

"I'm so sorry," Ghost Alex was saying.

"About what?" Charlie asked quietly, all the while looking around him and trying to make sure he wasn't overheard.

"About not listening to you."

He stopped in his tracks and stared at her. He was accepting the fact that they were not a figment of his imagination. They were real, but he believed they were a form of subconscious, and that's why most people didn't remember their ghost phase. He supposed they either didn't want to remember, or possibly this seemed like a dream to them, or something buried just too deep for them to access.

Maybe he could get them to admit to this experience under hypnosis, but how will he convince anybody to submit to this examination, and did he really want people to know that there are people who can connect with ghosts, or some form of ethereal subconscious of people who were dead, dying or in a coma?

He believed these ghosts were some form of subconscious and that was why in this state they felt free to discuss their true inner feelings, especially since they felt they had nothing to lose anyway.

So now Alex's subconscious was admitting to being wrong, but will she be able to admit to such a thing in real life? Did he want her admit to such a thing? Will her being able to admit she is vulnerable not change her into a different person?

He didn't know really.

When he didn't respond to her, Alex's ghost expression got worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said but he heard his detached tone and knew this won't work.

"Charlie?"

He sighed and motioned her to a supply closet.

"Well?" she stared deep into his eyes.

"Alex…"

"What?"

"It's just that… last time when I saw your ghost form, you made so many promises and then you woke up. Not only did you not remember talking to me as a ghost, you also had amnesia."

"Yes, but I recovered." She reminded him.

"But then you didn't feel the same about me. You forgot everything that we spoke about."

Alex's ghost seemed tense now. "But now I know. I know you can see ghosts. I remember seeing you. You know that, don't you?"

"I know," he sighed. "But still, you remember a glimpse of it while I retain the entire experience and I know this time won't be any different."

"So?"

"So I know that you won't be able to change, Alex, even if you promise me, and the truth is, I don't want you to change."

All of a sudden he felt exhausted.

The ghost of Alex Reid gave him a sad look. "I don't know what to say."

He looked at her. "It doesn't matter, really." He stared deep into her glum eyes. "You don't have to change, Alex. I love you just the way you are."

* * *

Alex Reid was feeling pain. Her chest hurt. Her throat felt grazed. Her eyelids felt heavy but somebody kept insisting that she open her eyes.

She knew that voice. She wanted to open her eyes so she could see the face that went with that voice.

She inhaled. Oh my God! That hurt. It also made her cough. That was even more painful.

"Hey," a man's voice was talking to her. "Slowly does it."

 _'Charlie!'_ the name just popped in her mind.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you, too," Charlie said.

 **THE END**


End file.
